Still miserable

I was dreading my dental appointment on Tuesday. As it turned out the broken tooth under my wobbly crown came out easily, the denture was fitted straight away and it looked just fine.  I was beaming when I came out of the consulting room, MrFF who was there to drive me home said he hadn’t seen me so happy in a while.

I needed only one paracetamol that night, there was no bleeding and as instructed I slept with the denture in place which wasn’t exactly comfortable, I might have drooled a bit. 

Wednesday evening I decided to take the denture out for cleaning and to sleep without it.  Think again. I had been shown how to remove it, hook a finger nail at the top of the false tooth and pull down. I could only move it a fraction of an inch before it was stuck solid, after a few frustrating attempts I gave up.  I tried again this morning with the same result so I phoned the dentist and got an appointment this afternoon. 

Even my dentist had trouble removing the denture, eventually it pinged off towards the back of my tongue, I had to fish it out and hand it over.  He’s taken a little off the sides of the plate and it doesn’t feel so tight now, in fact maybe it’s a bit slack, goodness knows when I’ll be eating mince pies.  

Still, it’s not forever. In 4 months time we’ll laugh about this.  I misread the scales this morning thinking I’d put on a pound, in fact I’ve lost another which makes 12 pounds lost in total.  Don’t start calculating what I might weigh in 4 months time please, I am trying to be positive.

Free electricity

Before we went to Italy in September our electricity provider was occasionally offering us free power for one hour at specified times when there is plenty of renewable energy available.  We were given at a days notice and any electricity above our average usage at that time of day was free, we of course signed up and managed to grab a maximum of £4 worth of free electricity.  We missed out a few times while we were away but yesterday got an email to say this morning, for 2 hours,  7 am to 9 am we could again use the offer.  We didn’t need asking twice particularly given twice as long to use as much as we could.  Mr FF set the alarm and at 7 am precisely switched on our emergency oil filled radiator, after he worked out how to do so as it hadn’t been needed for some time. He then got back into bed saying the kitchen would be roasty toasty by breakfast time.

I however had other plans, I got up and :

• Completed and tumble dried a load of washing
• Put the immersion on for a tank full of hot water
• Hoovered with the big Dyson
• Charged every thing that could be charged, phones, cordless vacuum etc
• Ran the dishwasher

We both had a steam session that really warmed us up. We also ran the bathroom underfloor heating that never gets used and the heated towel rails too.

By the time we sat down for our porridge, cooked in the microwave within the free zone, we were extremely hot as the outside temperature had warmed up following yesterday’s snow and ice and we had more heating in the apartment than normal.

This offer is a big improvement on last years when we had to save power by turning off as much as possible for an hour at peak times to receive a credit.  I got sick of sitting in the cold and dark for a few pounds and called a halt, particularly when I discovered MrFF sitting in the office with the computer on. I’ll be interested to see how much free power we used today, we should be notified within 7 days, I’ll let you know.

Home

Our journey from Lazio to Yorkshire was smooth if long, good stopovers, beautiful scenery and nice weather.  We were fully unpacked in a couple of days and are now back in our Yorkshire routine enjoying cold sunny days, a little snow, a lot of coziness.

I got an appointment with my dentist about my broken crown. He said it’s not good news it’s catastrophic, so much for keeping the patient calm.  The post that supported my front crown has almost disintegrated and I need an implant that will take 4 months or more to complete and cost me £3,500.  Since I dread having a gap at the front of my mouth he is making me a denture to fill the space, he says I will hate it.  I go next Tuesday to have the tooth out, meantime the crown is much wobblier after he took impressions, at least it didn't come off when he removed the mould.  I’ve had 3 weeks of slowly eating soft food with twinges every time I accidentally catch the crown. The only redeeming feature is that I have lost weight, my size 12 trousers are hanging off me but no doubt once I can tackle a mince pie they will fit again.

I need new lenses for my glasses as the photochromic film broke down in Italy, I am getting my haircut this afternoon, tomorrow my Covid vaccination.   

We think of Grigio a lot, the sadness is still there but not as raw.  So far Mario is going to the house to top up the cat feeder for Vincenzo, who may be up above us with Giovanni but he will be leaving soon for winter in Rome.  

So it was a mixed visit this time with a lot of worry and sadness but we were delighted with our oil harvest.  We brought most of it home so we have enough for ourselves, for gifting to friends and family and some to sell.  Let’s hope next years crop is equally good and that our spring 2025 visit is a happier one

Grigio

We had our beautiful little cat put to sleep today, she was born in our garden and until she went missing for 8 months earlier this year was always around even when we weren’t.  

The vets did offer further treatment but their suggestion of removing all her teeth followed by monthly injections was impossible.  We leave for our drive back to Yorkshire tomorrow.  We have no one to care for her, to give her daily medication, tempt her to eat, take her to the vets, even from a really good friend that’s just too much to ask. Besides they said there was no guarantee this treatment would work and so far after 6 weeks on medication she hadn’t improved.

At the weekend she wasn’t so good but she picked up from Monday and was eating well again.  Despite all her problems she never stopped purring and she was out in the garden most days enjoying the sun.  But I knew we had to let her go and I thought it might be something of a relief that her suffering was over, sadly it doesn’t feel that way now it just feels incredibly sad.

She was the worst of patients, fought with us when we tried to get her to the vets, twice making us late for appointments, then she fought with the vets refusing to cooperate in any way.  She could tell every time I intended to apply her mouth gel, even when I approached her with it in my pocket she’d immediately run for cover. She was stubborn and stoic and absolutely wonderful, we loved her very much.  Our time together was short and leaving her for months to the automatic feeder and outside shelter was horrible but I know she had a better and longer life than the majority of cats round here.

She is buried in the orchard beside her favourite olive tree, the one that she could climb the highest, bless her heart.  We miss you our darling Grigio.

Good news, bad news and really sad news

Our olive harvest was our most successful so far.  We hand picked 398 kilos of olives over 5 days which gave us 49 litres of oil.  For an Italian that’s a years supply,  for us it’s way beyond our needs but we are grateful to have so much.

Last Friday one of my front crowns became loose.  Next day I managed to get an appointment with a local dentist, he opened specially and wouldn’t take any payment for the examination and x rays.  It seems the post inside the crown, my original tooth, has a partial crack and I’ll need root canal work or an implant, which obviously I will get done when we return to Ilkley in about 10 days time.  I asked the dentist if he could add some cement to keep the tooth stable I hate it wobbling, but he said that could risk infection.  However I hope I can find one of this dental repair kits just in case the crown comes off, I dread having a gappy smile.  I am cutting my food very small and posting it into the opposite side of my mouth, brushing my teeth is tricky.

Grigio has had good and bad days.  As instructed I reduced her medication by half but after a few days she started going backwards so I upped it again.  She recovered, is eating well and seems happy, sitting out in the sun, scratching fence posts and the sofa, climbing onto my knee or snoozing in front of the stove. I promise she isn’t suffering at all but we have no one to care for her when we leave, she cannot continue on this level of steroids permanently and even if she was well her condition could recur at anytime.  The vets have tried to find someone to take her while we were away, I have approached a shelter, there is no one.  So before we leave next week we will have to take her to be put to sleep, it’s the kindest thing to do but I cannot bear it.